In the past, the insertion of small items into wells of various shapes formed in a plate has been a tedious and time consuming task. This has been particularly true when appropriately sized small items, such as porous polypropylene frits or other small items of composite material, were inserted into the multiple wells of a microtiter polypropylene plate such as a 1 mL 96 well microtiter plate. Such insertion has involved a manual technique wherein each item is individually placed into an empty well of the microtiter plate and is then manually seated in the well using a hand-held 5 mm rod.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved multiple well microtiter plate loading assembly and method wherein a plurality of frits or similar small items are seated in wells in a receiving plate in a single operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved multiple well microtiter plate loading assembly and method which includes a frit loading unit and a frit insertion device. The frit loading unit is designed to rapidly load a plurality of frits or other small items into apertures in the frit insertion device which includes a plurality of insertion pins to insert the frits simultaneously into the wells of a multiple well microtiter.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method for simultaneously loading a plurality of small items into the wells of a multiple well microtiter plate which includes providing a microtiter support unit with a plurality of frit receiving apertures extending therethrough which are arranged to correspond in position to the position of the wells in the microtiter plate. An elongate plunger pin is inserted into each of the apertures and a frit is loaded into each aperture to rest on the plunger pin. A microtiter plate is then inverted on the microtiter support unit with the wells aligned with the apertures, and the plunger pins are moved into the wells to seat the frits in the wells.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved apparatus for simultaneously loading a plurality of frits or similar small items into the wells of a multiple well microtiter plate which includes a frit insertion device including a base upon which a plurality of plunger pins are mounted so that each plunger pin registers with a well in the microtiter plate. A deck unit is movably mounted in spaced relationship to the base and includes a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, each of which receives a pin. A frit is placed on each pin within the apertures and the deck unit is movable toward the base to cause the pins to extend into the wells of a microtiter plate seated on the deck unit to seat a frit in each well.